Plaintiffs Say They Became Ill from Exposure to Lead and Arsenic

Years of contamination at a Southern California lead-acid battery-recycling plant caused severe health problems for local residents, including cancer and kidney failure, according to a new lawsuit.

The suit, brought against directors and officers of
Exide Technologies
was filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Plaintiffs attorney Robert Mandell said Tuesday the suit is one of five that he and three other lawyers plan to bring related to the alleged effect of an Exide plant in Vernon, Calif. The group’s 475 clients include children and adults who say they became ill from exposure to lead and arsenic used at the plant, as well as the families of roughly a dozen people who have died from apparent exposure.

The Vernon facility has been shut down or had its operations suspended since last year, and Exide is attempting to restructure its debt and reopen the plant through a Chapter 11 proceeding.

Because filing for bankruptcy shielded Exide from being sued, the new suit only names individuals at the company who aren’t awarded the same protections. Any recoveries for the alleged victims would likely come from insurance policies.

An Exide spokeswoman declined to comment on the litigation.

Mr. Mandell said he’d “like to get these folks compensated for what was done to them,” adding that the filed suit and others to follow are a year and a half in the making. Many of the plaintiffs in the new suit have also filed claims in the bankruptcy proceeding, said Robert Kent, another attorney working on the case.

The first of the suits, filed on behalf of more than 60 children, claims the Exide plant “has emitted and continues to emit dangerously high levels of lead and arsenic, among other pollutants…which adversely affects the air quality” in a handful of communities southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

People living in the area didn't correlate their health problems to the plant until the California Department of Toxic Substances Control first shut down the facility in April 2013 for environmental violations, according to the suit.

A maker of automotive and industrial power supplies, Exide is looking for a buyer through bankruptcy. If one can’t be found, the company is prepared to cement a deal with senior lenders that will reshape its balance sheet and erase about $600 million in debt.

In recent court filings, Exide said it has spent about $69 million since April to deal with the Vernon plant, which it relied on as a cheap source of lead for the creation of new batteries. The company has spent another $3.5 million in that time to respond to a Justice Department investigation involving Vernon, as well as $4 million to assure regulators of the company’s ability to address contamination caused there.

Last month, a bankruptcy court signed off on a settlement between Exide and California regulators that could clear the way for the Vernon facility to reopen in 2015. Under the deal, Exide promised to pay up to $9 million to clean up the soil in the neighborhoods around the plant.